


equilibrium

by ndnickerson



Series: baby steps [1]
Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: Comfort Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Late at Night, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 12:51:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4961305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ned's home for fall break when his rest is interrupted by an unexpected visitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	equilibrium

**Author's Note:**

> Written from a prompt on the otpprompts tumblr: Imagine that Person A isn’t normally the emotional type. One night, however, they show up at Person B’s place, eyes red from crying. Turns out they had a vivid nightmare about Person B dying, and they wanted to make sure their friend/crush/datefriend/whatever was okay. Person B is touched by this rare display of emotion from A, and they let A stay with them for the night.

Ned was entirely, completely dead to the world. Midterms week at Emerson had meant an almost-all-nighter, followed by a true all-nighter. For a few hours there, that morning, Ned had been hallucinating. The drive between his college and home, thank God he had known like the back of his hand. He had kept himself awake with energy drinks and loud chaotic music, and by the time he had walked into his parents' house, he had been jittery and cold and his skin had felt a size too—something. He had somehow managed to eat a plate of his mom's macaroni and cheese without face-planting into it, and had dragged himself upstairs for a good twelve hours of sleep. Nancy would be leaving for a case in a few days, and he wanted to rest up, then spend as much time with her as he could.

He was somehow even more disoriented and groggy when he woke. His room was pitch-black and he had stripped down to his boxers, and the covers were up over his head. He was warm and so comfortable, and—

_Bam-bam-bam-bam_

His parents' bedroom door creaked faintly as it opened, and Ned squinted, bleary-eyed, at his alarm clock. The cherry-red digits wavered, and his head dropped onto the pillow again. He felt the impulse to check his cell phone, but his eyelids were just so heavy...

_Bam-bam-bam-bambambam_

Ned groaned, fighting sleep with what little strength he had. It was the middle of the night. No one should be pounding on his front door. In the middle of the night, all news was bad news. Otherwise, it would wait.

_Nancy._

As soon as he thought her name, Ned's eyes flew open, and he rolled toward the edge of the bed. His bathrobe was hanging from the back of his bedroom door, and he managed to tug it on with only a few tries. He caught himself with the railing before he did a swan dive down the stairs.

Downstairs, only the foyer light was burning, and it cast his father into silhouette. The rain that had been threatening, but had thankfully held off until he had reached his parents' house, was falling in sheets from the edge of the roof. Nancy was just stepping over the threshold, her raincoat gleaming, her long legs slick with rainwater.

"See? He's fine," Ned's father said, just as Nancy swept the hood off her reddish-gold ponytail and glanced up at Ned.

He still felt a little disoriented, his equilibrium off, but he was shocked to see that her eyes were red from crying.

Nancy didn't cry. He could count on one hand the number of times he had known about, much less witnessed, her crying.

"Babe? What's wrong?" Ned asked, taking a step forward as she came toward him.

"I..." Then she was clinging to him, and he hugged her in return, ignoring the wet raincoat. She was shivering and obviously upset.

"Nancy? Are you all right?" Ned's father was clearly just as startled as Ned was.

"Yeah," she murmured against Ned's shoulder, and then hiccuped.

Ned gave his father a small shrug when he met his eyes. "You can go to bed," he murmured. "It's all right."

His father still lingered for another moment. There was no way he had ever seen Nancy looking so distraught, either, and apparently a terrible emergency hadn't brought her to their door so early in the morning. He had to be curious. But Nancy seemed a little more calm in Ned's arms, as he held her and stroked her back and murmured meaningless comforting words to her. His father gave Ned a little wave, and then he and Nancy were alone.

"You're scaring me," he whispered, his voice gentle. "Nan, what's wrong?"

She sniffled. "I tried to call you," she murmured. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know it's stupid..."

"What?" he murmured, and stroked her cheek, brushing his thumb over her skin to wipe away a tear. "I'm sorry, I've been dead asleep since I got home..."

His eyes widened when her own filled with tears, and she tried to duck her head but he crooked his finger under her chin. "Shh. Honey?"

"I..." She released a sound that was between a whimper and a sob. "I... I had this dream, and it was so real... I tried to get to you, but I couldn't get—to you, and you—" She blinked and another pair of tears slid down her cheeks. "I watched you die..."

"It's okay, Nan. It was just a dream."

"I know." She impatiently swiped at her wet cheeks. "I kept telling myself that. And then I tried to call you and I just needed to hear your voice, but..."

"I'm sorry. But I'm fine. Exhausted, but fine." He caught her hand in his and gave it a little squeeze. Then he made his voice a little quieter. "Do you want to stay here? In case you have another nightmare?"

She looked up into his eyes, and he could tell that she was fighting it, but she took a deep breath and nodded. "If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind. Here, let me get your coat."

She hadn't been exaggerating. Despite the chill in the air, she wore only a long-sleeved henley and a pair of cotton shorts under her coat; she really had risen from her bed and come straight over to his house. He hung up her still-dripping wet raincoat, locked the front door, and took her hand to guide her upstairs. He stopped at the bathroom to grab a towel so she could dry off some, then led her to his bedroom. She didn't protest or ask if she could sleep somewhere else, and Ned was too tired to care about appearances. Nancy had never suggested or asked if she could sleep over at his house, ever.

Granted, it had happened, a few times. They had fallen asleep together while watching movies, and once she had slept over at his house while her father had been out of town, but that had been in another bedroom.

As soon as they were in his room, with the lights off, Ned's exhaustion returned full force. He wanted to dive under the covers and curl up with his girlfriend in his arms, and that was all. He dropped the bathrobe as she briskly wiped off her wet legs, and his lashes were already low as he stepped toward his bed.

By some unspoken agreement, he and Nancy just didn't do this. When they were at Emerson, with no way that his parents or her father could discover them, they shared his bed at Omega Chi more often than not. After they had spent the past summer stealing time together during her cases, her first visit of the fall had been eagerly anticipated, to put it mildly. By the end of it, they hadn't just approached the line between third base and actually having sex; they had crossed it entirely.

And then she was in his bed, with his parents sleeping just down the hall. He wrapped his arm around her, and she shivered as she cuddled against him. Her skin was still a little damp from the rain.

"Shh," he whispered. "Shh. It's all right. I'm sorry you were so worried. It's all okay."

"I know I was overreacting," she whispered. "It just seemed so _real_..."

"I know." He kissed the crown of her head. "I hate the circumstances, but I'm glad you're here. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." Nancy sniffled again. "I didn't know what to say when your dad answered the door, just that I needed to check on you. Oh my God... I never, _ever_ want to feel that way again, Ned. Not ever. I woke up and I was already crying."

"Honey..."

She brought her hand up and rested her palm against his bare chest, just over his heart. "I needed to know you were okay," she whispered.

"Are _you_ okay? Seriously, I've never seen you like that before. It scared me."

Even though he was exhausted, he moved back to look into her eyes, only to see them shining. "I'll be okay," she whispered. "But I need you. So much that it scares me."

"I need you too, Nan. I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

She moved the hand on his chest to his cheek, and gazed into his eyes as she stroked his skin. She lowered her lashes, then reached for his hand and guided it to her breast. She wasn't wearing a bra, and her nipple was already hard beneath the fabric of her henley.

Ned swallowed. Despite his exhaustion, he couldn't help being interested. Nancy had never instigated on the nights they had ended up having sex, and it had made him wonder if she was just going along with it because he wanted it, but she genuinely seemed to enjoy it. He had wanted anything he could get with her, and when that had been limited to some over the clothes fondling and making out before she fell asleep in his arms, he had been content with that.

But to have her, to know her so deeply, so fully... He stroked his thumb against her nipple and she released a quiet sigh, then touched the waistband of his boxers. His eyebrows went up, but he helped her take them off, then watched with silent happiness as she took her top off.

He didn't want to kiss her—inside his mouth tasted stale and awful—but he nuzzled against her, his palms sliding down to cup her hips, when she laid down naked beside him. "I need you," she whispered again, her fingers combing through his hair. "I need to feel you inside me..."

His heart skipped a beat, and his erection bobbed slightly. "I love you," he whispered. "Oh, Nan..."

They held each other, skin against skin, and he rolled onto his back. The feel of her, her bare breasts, the warm and dampening curls between her thighs, was enough to drive him crazy. He snaked his hand between them, cupping the mound of her sex, and she moaned softly when his fingertip barely brushed against her clit. "Mmm," she encouraged him, angling her hips.

He moved his hand so his thumb was in position to rub her clit and his fingers were teasing the slick hollow of her entrance, and then she moved over him. Ned groaned softly as she began to rock against his hand, and he left it motionless, letting her control what she was doing.

She was pleasuring herself. It was his hand, his fingers, and his own pleasure to watch it, but she was getting off on him, riding his fingers, rotating her hips to rub her clit against his thumb. He had never seen her like this, so unabashedly sensual, almost wanton, and her breathing began to quicken as her inner flesh fluttered.

"Now," she whimpered, riding his fingers even faster. "Ned, _please_..."

He didn't question it. He didn't stop to think. He just rolled her onto her back and she immediately brought her knees up, her slick, tender sex ready for him. She reached for him and he closed his eyes as she clung to him, his heart pounding.

He slid inside her, and she released a quiet cry, her spine arching. "Fuck, oh my God," he mumbled as he felt her wet inner flesh directly against his skin. "Fuck, you feel so good..."

"Yes," she whimpered. "Just like that..."

He worked in her with smooth, gentle strokes until she took his full length. With every stroke she pressed her fingertips against his back and released another quiet cry. She was gasping, breathless, wrapped around him, and he knew—they had to—

He moved in her faster, the bedsprings squealing quietly in time with his thrusts, and she was clinging to him, and he was lost in her. She moaned softly, her hips gently rocking up to meet him, and he gasped in wonder as he felt her inner flesh tighten in a spasm, as a soundless scream in her throat became quiet sobs.

He let himself come, nuzzling against her neck, and they couldn't be closer. Her legs were wrapped around his waist and she was warm and yielding under him, and—

"Oh _fuck_ ," he gasped. "Oh shit, Nan, baby, _shit_ —"

"Hmm?"

He buried his face in the pillow and released a long, agonized groan. "I swear to God I meant to pull out," he muttered. "Shit. I'm sorry. I fucked up—"

She stroked his hair. "It's all right," she murmured.

"No—I mean, I didn't have a condom on—"

"I know. It's okay." Her thumb slid down his cheek. "I'm on the pill."

"You are?" He pulled back to look at her, his heart still racing with panic. "Oh God, Nan. Really?"

She nodded. "After... it just seemed like it would be a good idea. So..." She shrugged. "Did you really think I wouldn't have said something?"

He shrugged, too, but he gave her a little grin. "We were a little preoccupied," he murmured. "The heat of the moment and everything. Wow."

She smiled. "It wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world," she told him. "I don't think I'd mind having a little baby Nickerson, all of my own. Of our own. Just not yet."

"Exactly." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Feeling better?"

She nodded. "Much. Thank you."

He smiled, but shook his head. "My pleasure," he told her, then gently moved off her so he could find a cloth and clean them up. It was strange, to not need to dispose of a condom.

He couldn't believe he had done that. It had just felt so good that it had been impossible to stop, and he had meant to pull out, he had been positive he was going to pull out, and then... he hadn't.

He was exhausted. And the sex had felt incredible.

She pulled her panties back on after she was cleaned up, and he joined her naked, sliding his leg between hers, his arm slung over her, her head against his chest. "No more bad dreams," he murmured, his voice already slurred a little with exhaustion. "Mmm?"

"No more," she murmured in agreement, her own voice quiet and soft. "Not like this. Not anymore."

Ned's last thought before he fell into warm, contented sleep again was that he could definitely get used to this. Definitely.


End file.
